Every person who represents Rhode Island in Washington, DC should be elected by the people. H 5094 and S 201, sponsored by State Rep. Christopher Fierro and State Sen. Paul Jabour, ensure democracy in every contingency. You can help us get to that goal by emailing the General Assembly leadership and Governor Carcieri: click here.

“U.S. Senate seats belong to the voters. No one person, regardless
of his or her party affiliation, should get to decide who is going to
represent the entire state in the Senate,” said Representative Fierro,
who represents District 51 in Woonsocket. “Inevitably, politics are
going to play a role in that appointment, and that’s not how the Senate
is meant to be constituted. The 17th Amendment was meant to stop the
Senate from being a body of politically appointees and turn it into one
whose members are directly elected, and in that spirit, we should adopt
this legislation.”

The bill (2009-H 5094)would require that a special election be held to fill U.S. Senate
vacancies, unless such a vacancy occurs after July 1 of an election
year. In that case, the vacancy would be filled during the regular
general electoral cycle.

Representative Fierro and the bill’s
cosponsors say the current law is a vestige of an outdated system of
electing senators, prior to the ratification of the 17th amendment in
1913. Until that point, senators were chosen by state legislatures.
While the amendment called for the direct popular election of senators,
it allowed for vacancies to be filled via other mechanisms.